Port Maitland Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada

3297 Main Shore Road Port Maitland, Nova Scotia

The light breeze coming from the water is welcomed to cut the humidity. I jam my foot into my flip flop and scrunch my toes up to secure it in place then grab my chair and beach bag and head down the path lined with dune grasses and change rooms. The tide is definitely low but has made its turn and is ever so slowing inching back in.

I choose my spot, drop my bag, pry open my chair and have a seat. The website described this beach as a 1 km sand beach with supervised staff July and August complete with picnic area, change facilities, and a wharf, which is off to the left and a bit unsightly. I spot the lifeguard drowned in suntan lotion with a set of sunglasses snug to her face. She sits under her hat, glued to the chair like she has been there since the start of her employment. I have never been very good at sitting in a chair baking in the sun and within ten minutes, I am making the long saunter down the sand towards the water’s edge. I bring my camera in case I can get a decent shot of the waves cresting.

Into the haze I can just about make out a land mass and I wonder If I am far enough North along the coast that I could be seeing Briar Island and Digby Neck. I pose this question to the lifeguard. “I am not sure,” she says. and goes directly to her phone for the answer. “It is the coast of Maine,” she declares and adds no more.

The daytime humidity has built up some friction in the air. Out over the Bay of Fundy some thunderstorms are brewing, I can hear a low grade boomer and the wind is picking up. At least I got an hour at the beach. I pack up my belongs and head to the truck. Pulling out my old school paper map I can attest It is Maine across the Bay. I have officially left Nova Scotia’s south shore and have begun the Evangeline Trail that parallels the Fundy coast side of Nova Scotia. I will head towards Digby and see what I can find next.

Until then, Happy Travels from Maritime Mac